Badder Santa Blu-rayReview

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Subversive Santa...director approved

By Hock Teh

Every Christmas, Hollywood predictably lines up feel-good, inspirational movies that can either tug at your heartstrings or make you feel guilty for being such a Grinch in this season of giving. However, every so often, a rare movie comes along to buck that tradition and turn the Christmastime movie genre onto its head. In 2003, that movie was Bad Santa and it instantly catapulted to become one of my top anti-Christmas movies of all time. Directed by Terry Zwigoff (Ghost World, Crumb) and executive produced by the Coen brothers, Bad Santa is not only dark and mean-spirited but also heck of a lot funny to boot. This is one subversive Santa movie that everyone just have to watch, if only once.

As of this moment, three versions of Bad Santa are in existence, in part because of pressure from the money guys at the studio to cater to the lowest common denominator. The first is of course the theatrical version and the second one, the unrated version dubbed Badder Santa was released on DVD. However, neither of these two versions represents director Terry Zwigoff's original vision and intent. The last and final version--let's just call it the director's cut--was originally screened for studio executives and a group of handpicked test audience. For whatever reasons, they did not like that particular cut of the movie, stating that Billy Bob Thornton's character was too raw and despicable, which also means that they obviously did not get the movie's intended joke. Zwigoff and editor Robert Hoffman had to go back and tweak their original version to make it less "repulsive," which meant that the movie was essentially watered down to make it more appealing to a broader demographic.

Thinking that his original version would never see the light of day, Zwigoff was surprised when told that it could be included as part of the film's high-definition Blu-ray release. So what we have here is probably the definitive release of Bad Santa on home video, with both the previous DVD's Unrated version and Terry Zwigoff's Director's Cut included in one great package, all in amazing high-definition resolution.

Bad Santa tells the tale of a mean, alcoholic crook, Willie (Billy Bob Thornton), who, together with his height challenged partner Marcus (Tony Cox), runs an annual scam robbing department stores on Christmas Eve after casing the place by working as the store's Santa and Elf respectively. As far as department store Santas go, Willie, forever in a drunken stupor, is probably the last person one would hire to dress up as one. However, since the duo is willing to work for next to nothing, they get hired anyway and their latest target is a department store in downtown Phoenix, AZ. In a chance meeting during the course of his "work", Willie gets to know a socially awkward, snot-nosed young boy (Brett Kelly). As luck would have it, this kid lives alone with his senile grandmother (Cloris Leachman) in an upscale and expensive house in the suburbs. When his crass behavior attracts the attention of the department store's supervisor, Bob Chipeska (John Ritter) and head of security, Gin (Bernie Mac), Willie is forced to move out of his rundown motel and straight into the boy's house.

Now, Willie is probably not the best father figure for an impressionable young boy but frankly, he doesn't really give a damn. Cussing and insulting the kid incessantly, Willie doesn't pull any punches when it comes to setting any kind of example for a boy who thinks that he really is Santa Claus. And that is exactly the beauty of this bizarre relationship between them. One is almost always in a state of drunkenness and sees the world as a mean and unforgiving place while the other is sweet and innocent and only wants to find himself a friend, even if that friend turns out to be this Santa from hell.

Comparing the Director's Cut (DC) with the Unrated version, one can immediately see how much darker and funnier the former is. Running almost eleven minutes shorter, the DC gives Willie an even meaner streak, with absolutely no redeeming features at all. There are slight tweaks in the DC, like the lack of narration in the opening scene and some changes in dialogue and quicker cuts but the most significant change is in the ending, leaving the audience no doubt that they are indeed watching the "baddest" version of Bad Santa.

Billy Bob Thornton gives one of the better performances of his career, imbuing his character with enough venom to make the audience hate him to the core. I know I did. Willie managed to soften up towards the end but the revulsion one has for this man for the way he treats the boy is, for all intents and purposes, genuine and darkly funny in a twisted sort of way. Apart from Tony Cox, Brett Kelly and to a certain extent, Bernie Mac, the rest of the cast, especially John Ritter (in his final role before his unexpected death), Lauren Graham and Lauren Tom, never could grow their characters beyond just the peripheral roles. However, in the end, Billy Bob Thornton IS Bad Santa and that is all that finally matters the most.